Erpresserin

A very young Diana Dors, who looks very much like Margaret Lee, it's like they are twin sisters. She also looks like a young Marilyn Monroe. She's not bad in the role of the naive young woman, killed by the villain played by Peter Reynolds. George Brent and Marguerite Chapman are very good in two sensitive roles. The film is slower in the first half, becoming alert and thrilling towards the end. Terence Fisher, the later expert on horror films, did a good job in this film made early in his career.

A better than average drama written by Frederick Knott, the author of "Dial M for Murder" and "Wait Until Dark", this shows Terence Fisher expertly handling a story of crime, lust and death during his efficient early phase working for Hammer Films, five years before the big success of "The Curse of Frankenstein". Although the main character is John Harman, the mature manager of a London bookstore (played by Irish actor George Brent), two young actors play more appealing characters who are key components of the plot and feature: Diana Dors and Peter Reynolds. A ravishing blonde beauty at 20, Dors had had a dozen of minor screen roles before being introduced in this production as Ruby Bruce, a sexy worker who turns everything around her upside down after she gets mixed up with Jeff Hart, a seductive ex-con played by Reynolds. Under Jeff's influence Ruby blackmails Harman, next a couple of corpses complicate the proceedings, soon Harman is accused of murder and then his secretary (American actress Marguerite Chapman) helps to solve the mystery, putting her life in danger. Peter Reynolds is fine, but he does not have much to do as the villain with sinister charm. It is Diana Dors who has more room for creating a real character. She was a very good actress, and although comparisons were often made with Marilyn Monroe, on the acting level she surpassed her American colleague: here she convincingly mixes naive wickedness with vulnerability, making the film not only the account of Harman's story but the drama of a confused working girl as well.

The only film Hammer made from a novel by James Hadley Chase; a bookshop provides an unlikely backdrop for such a sordid little story of passion and blackmail.

Despite the obligatory American stars the real drama concerns the British supporting cast; most of whom are allowed a little nuance. Although the American title refers to Diana Dors, it's actually more applicable to Peter Reynolds, who really plays the film's baddie, and who you spend most of the film yearning for him to get a good punch in the face.

The Last Page (AKA: Man Bait) is directed by Terence Fisher and adapted to screenplay by Frederick Knott from James Hadley Chase's story. It stars George Brent, Marguerite Chapman, Raymond Huntley, Peter Reynolds and Diana Dors. Music is by Frank Spencer and cinematography by Walter J. Harvey.

John Harman (Brent) is a London bookshop manager who finds himself blackmailed by his busty young assistant, Ruby Bruce (Dors), and her new ex-convict beau Jeffrey Hart (Reynolds), when he foolishly steals in for a kiss during after hours stock taking.

Bookshop Noir.

British Hammer and American Exclusive teamed up to produce a number of low budget crime dramas in the early 1950s, often using American stars and directors blended in with British actors, they were produced in Britain in next to no time. The Last Page is a safe viewing for the undemanding film noir fan. Terence Fisher would become a legend amongst British horror fans (rightly so) for his work on Hammer's reinvention of the Universal Creature Features. Here he crafts a nifty atmospheric melodrama without fuss or filler, while just about managing to stop the flaws and daftness of plotting from sinking the picture.

Story has some interesting noirish characters and themes. The man who begins to pay for a moment of weakness, the young shapely gal in over her head-lured to the dark half by a well spoken criminal element, while some secret passions amongst the staff of this particular bookstore come to the fore once things inevitably go pear shaped. The setting is a doozy as well, this bookstore is perfectly antiquated, so much so you can smell the leather bound novels nestling on the shelves. Walter Harvey's (The Quatermass Experiment) photography ensures that shadows feature throughout, and there's the odd macabre touch that befits the writing of Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder/Wait Until Dark).

Cast are professional to the last. Brent (The Spiral Staircase) and Huntley (I See a Dark Stranger/Night Train to Munich) are the epitome of gentlemen in a rut, stoic and stiff, grumpy yet gritty, but nicely portraying men we expect to appear in a bookstore noir. Chapman (Coroner Creek) has an abundance of hard looking sexuality and Reynolds has a spiv nastiness about him, very cold but charming. But it's Dors who holds all the aces, she would impress herself upon many a red blooded male during three decades of British film and TV. Here at aged 21, as Ruby, she's a curvy blonde babe with full lips, a gal who understandably turns the heads. The character is tardy as well, hardly a crime, but mostly in Dors' hands she's believable as a girl clearly out of her depth, she's not a femme fatale, she's a weak willed person hurtling towards film noir doom. It's here where this British B noir gets its worth.

It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good one considering the modest budget afforded it. There's dumb decisions made by characters, holes of plotting and the ending fails to seal the deal after the hard noirish mood eked out by Fisher, Harvey and Dors. However, as film noir time fillers go, it's well worth checking out. 6.5/10

This was the first time I had ever heard of Diana Dors (don't blame me, I'm from the USA and under the age of 40) - but I immediately fell in love with her. The plot centers around a bookstore where Dors' character, Ruby, works. She is the "bad girl" of the office, arriving late and hitting on her boss, played by George Brent. But that's nothing compared to the trouble she gets herself into after going on a date with a man she catches trying to steal a valuable book from the store! He (very easily) convinces her to blackmail her boss and things really go downhill from there. I won't give away more of the plot, because the unexpected twists and turns it takes are half the fun of this film - the other half is provided courtesy of the excellent British character actors who make up the cast. No part is too small to make you notice them! This film noir was directed by the great Terence Fisher for Hammer Films - who together would go on to unleash a slew of excellent Gothic horror films in the 1950's and 60's. A young, brunette Diana Dors easily walks away with the picture harnessing a killer combination of alluring presence and a very natural acting ability.